Witten attended theUniversity of Michigan for one semester as an economics graduate student before dropping out.[18] He returned to academia, enrolling inapplied mathematics atPrinceton University in 1973, then shifting departments and receiving aPhD in physics in 1976 and completing a dissertation, "Some problems in the short distance analysis of gauge theories", under the supervision ofDavid Gross.[19] He held a fellowship atHarvard University (1976–77), visitedOxford University (1977–78),[3][20] was a junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (1977–1980), and held aMacArthur Foundation fellowship (1982).[4]
Although he is definitely a physicist (as his list of publications clearly shows) his command of mathematics is rivaled by few mathematicians, and his ability to interpret physical ideas in mathematical form is quite unique. Time and again he has surprised the mathematical community by a brilliant application of physical insight leading to new and deep mathematical theorems ... He has made a profound impact on contemporary mathematics. In his hands physics is once again providing a rich source of inspiration and insight in mathematics.[5]
Edward Witten (left) with mathematicianShigefumi Mori, probably at theICM in 1990, where they received theFields Medal
By the mid 1990s, physicists working onstring theory had developed five different consistent versions of the theory. These versions are known astype I,type IIA,type IIB, and the two flavors ofheterotic string theory (SO(32) andE8×E8). The thinking was that of these five candidate theories, only one was the actual correcttheory of everything, and that theory was the one whose low-energy limit matched the physics observed in our world today.[30]
Speaking atStrings '95 conference atUniversity of Southern California, Witten made the surprising suggestion that these five string theories were in fact not distinct theories, but different limits of a single theory, which he calledM-theory.[31][32] Witten's proposal was based on the observation that the five string theories can be mapped to one another by certain rules calleddualities and are identified by these dualities. It led to a flurry of work now known as thesecond superstring revolution.[30]
Another of Witten's contributions to physics was to the result of gauge/gravity duality. In 1997,Juan Maldacena formulated a result known as theAdS/CFT correspondence, which establishes a relationship between certainquantum field theories and theories ofquantum gravity.[33] Maldacena's discovery has dominated high-energy theoretical physics for the past 15 years because of its applications to theoretical problems in quantum gravity and quantum field theory. Witten's foundational work following Maldacena's result has shed light on this relationship.[34]
WithAnton Kapustin, Witten has made deep mathematical connections between S-duality of gauge theories and thegeometric Langlands correspondence.[38] Partly in collaboration with Seiberg, one of his recent interests includes aspects of field theoretical description of topological phases in condensed matter and non-supersymmetric dualities in field theories that, among other things, are of high relevance in condensed matter theory. In 2016, he has also brought tensor models to the relevance of holographic and quantum gravity theories, by using them as a generalization of theSachdev–Ye–Kitaev model.[39]
Witten has published influential and insightful work in many aspects of quantum field theories and mathematical physics, including the physics and mathematics of anomalies, integrability, dualities, localization, and homologies. Many of his results have deeply influenced areas in theoretical physics (often well beyond the original context of his results), including string theory, quantum gravity and topological condensed matter.[40] In particular, Witten is known for collaborating withRuth Britto on a method calculating scattering amplitudes known as theBCFW recursion relations.
Witten sits on the board of directors ofAmericans for Peace Now and on the advisory council ofJ Street.[55] He supports thetwo-state solution and advocates a boycott of Israeli institutions and economic activity beyond its 1967 borders, though not of Israel itself.[56] Witten lived in Israel for a year in the 1960s.[57]
Green, M.,John H. Schwarz, and E. Witten.Superstring Theory. Vol. 1, Introduction. Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.ISBN978-0-521-35752-4.
Green, M., John H. Schwarz, and E. Witten.Superstring Theory. Vol. 2, Loop Amplitudes, Anomalies and Phenomenology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.ISBN978-0-521-35753-1.
Quantum fields and strings: a course for mathematicians. Vols. 1, 2. Material from the Special Year on Quantum Field Theory held at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 1996–1997. Edited byPierre Deligne,Pavel Etingof,Daniel S. Freed,Lisa C. Jeffrey,David Kazhdan,John W. Morgan,David R. Morrison and Edward Witten. American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI; Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, NJ, 1999. Vol. 1: xxii+723 pp.; Vol. 2: pp. i–xxiv and 727–1501.ISBN0-8218-1198-3, 81–06 (81T30 81Txx).
^ab"Edward Witten".Institute for Advanced Study. December 9, 2019. RetrievedJuly 14, 2022.
^abcAtiyah, Michael (1990)."On the Work of Edward Witten"(PDF).Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians. pp. 31–35. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 1, 2017.
^abRickles, Dean (August 23, 2016).A Brief History of String Theory. Springer.ISBN978-3-662-50183-2.
^Witten, E. (March 13–18, 1995).Some problems of strong and weak coupling.physics.usc.edu. Future Perspectives in String Theory. Los Angeles: University of Southern California. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2023.
